Song: Runnin (Naughty boy ft Beyonce)
A Few Hours Earlier
Jinx POV
Fuck.
Dying hurt.
As she struggled to breathe, Jinx thought back on her life.
She knew she wasn’t really going to die.
She would come back.
Immortal.
But that did nothing to lessen the terror of the moment.
She found it ironic that, after everything she had done…
It was an act of kindness that had led her to the grave.
When her eyes slowly opened again, the first thing she saw was Hope.
Oh, babe…
She had never wanted to see that expression on her face.
When she told Hope that someone had taken her jacket, she wanted to smack herself.
Was that really the last thing I should’ve said to my wife before dying?
She knew Hope.
She knew that, in her absence, Hope would go to war.
When the darkness finally swallowed her, she awoke in a forest.
There was a bridge.
And a boat that would no doubt carry her toward the radiant expanse in the distance.
Tsk.
She really was in the afterlife.
“Hello.
You’re dead, sorry about that.” a voice said matter-of-factly.
” But the good news is…you can choose to cross over…
or become a vampire.”
Jinx turned to see a young man with brown hair.
“Ah, I see.
You must be Landon.”
She looked him up and down.
“I imagined you’d be taller.”
The young man frowned.
“Do…
I know you?”
“No.”
“But you know my soulmate.”
“Soulmate?”
His eyes widened.
“Hope?”
“Yes, I am Jinx , her soulmate.”
He suddenly looked delighted.
“So it worked.
It really worked!”
His excitement faltered.
“Wait…
is—”
“Klaus is alive.”
“I’m relieved,” he said softly.
“It was a really risky gamble.”
He looked at her hopefully.
“Is she happy?”
In that moment, Jinx saw the depth of the love he still carried for Hope.
She should have felt jealous.
Possessive.
Instead, she understood what he had sacrificed so that Hope could find her happiness.
“She’s very happy.”
A small smile tugged at her lips.
“But she also has a message for you.”
Hope and Jinx had prepared that message for the day Jinx eventually turned into a vampire.
Neither of them had ever imagined that day would come so soon.
She wasn’t even sure whether being in another world made any difference.
Perhaps it was simply another consequence of Landon’s spell.
“A message?”
Jinx slowly walked toward him.
“What exactly was going through your head when you cast that spell?”
“Did you even think about the risks?”
“Aren’t you the one who lectured me about maintaining the balance between worlds?”
“And then you brought my father back with a plan that had, what, a one-in-a-thousand chance of working?”
“You didn’t even consider the side effects.”
“Do you have any idea what it’s like to wake up and be told that a tattoo appearing after your first night together means you’re married?”
“Married?” Landon exclaimed in disbelief.
As Jinx drew within inches of him, he caught the cold look in her eyes and instinctively seemed ready to back away.
Instead, Jinx wrapped him in a hug.
“Thank you, Landon.”
“Thank you for making it possible for us to meet.”
“Thank you for making me believe in love again.”
“Thank you for bringing my father back.”
“Thank you…
for everything.”
“You will always hold a special place in my heart.”
“But I have to let you go.”
“This is probably the last time we’ll ever be able to speak.”
“So I’m asking you…
don’t be afraid to find someone to spend eternity with.”
“You deserve all the happiness in the world.”
“Hope Andrea Mikaelson ”
“P.S.
Make sure my wife gets home soon…
I might destroy the world without her by my side.”
Jinx stepped back.
“But before I go, I’d like to hear a few interesting…
and embarrassing…
stories about her.”
Landon laughed.
“Of course.”
A few hours later…
Or perhaps only a few minutes.
Time was difficult to grasp in this place.
Jinx stood at the water’s edge, ready to dive in.
She turned toward Landon one last time.
“For what it’s worth…
I think you’re a good guy.”
With that, she dove into the water.
When she opened her eyes, the light was unbearably bright.
She blinked several times.
“Rough awakening, huh?”
Klaus was sitting in an armchair in their bedroom.
“Start by drinking that,” he said, pointing to a glass on the bedside table.
She didn’t need to ask what was in it.
The scent was intoxicating. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
But a part of her was irritated, knowing it was the blood of a stranger and not her wife’s.
She picked up the glass and drank it without hesitation.
Blueberry…
Not exactly her favorite.
Suddenly, she felt an immense power surge through her body.
She knew what it was.
But it shouldn’t have been possible.
Her magic should have vanished the moment she became a vampire.
Yet that wasn’t all.
To Klaus’s astonishment, a golden mist rose from her chest and enveloped her.
She realized that Hope’s presence in their bond had seemed almost insignificant before.
Because compared to what she felt now…
It had only been a drop of water.
Suddenly, she felt as though she were inside a body that wasn’t her own.
She was seeing through someone else’s eyes.
Hope’s.
In that instant, she felt her wife’s emotions—and alarm shot through her.
It was as if Hope’s emotions had been hidden behind a veil that let only the negative ones through.
Grief.
Hatred.
Rage.
Fuck.
She had known her death would devastate Hope.
Just not this much.
She had to find a way to reach her before she crossed a line she could never come back from.
She watched as her wife prepared to kill the child who had lured her into the ambush.
Jinx sighed in relief when Ekko stepped in.
For once, he’s actually useful.
When the child identified the culprits and Hope trapped them, Jinx felt a flicker of satisfaction.
But it wasn’t enough to extinguish her wife’s anger.
“But what am I supposed to do with you?”
“After all…
you helped lure my wife into the trap.”
That was when Jinx’s own irritation flared.
You’re not going to do anything, Hope Andrea Mikaelson.
I was dead for only a few hours, and you’re already trying to threaten and kill everyone.
Come home.
Right now.
At that very moment, the mist dissolved, and Hope’s emotions came flooding through.
Despite the considerable irritation she felt, Jinx sent her a wave of unconditional love…
Then returned to her own body.
“That was quite a show,” Klaus said curiously.
“It was the bond,” Jinx replied.
“I think it never fully manifested because my body wasn’t strong enough.
Now everything is amplified, on top of all the changes that came with becoming a vampire.”
“That must feel like having a chainsaw running through your head, kid.
A vampire’s emotions aren’t easy to handle.
Look at me—even after a thousand years, I never learned to control mine.”
He gave a rueful smile.
“And that’s an understatement.”
Jinx could see the regret etched into him.
He hadn’t made the right choices very often.
Really…
not very often.
And yet, despite everything, he had been a good father.
She hoped this new life would have a positive impact on him.
Then she experienced the first real effect of her new nature.
She heard her wife arriving at the manor gates.
She heard her slowly making her way toward their bedroom, as though she were afraid of what she would find there…
And of what Jinx might say.
And Jinx was going to say something.
She never wanted Hope to fall into such an abyss of rage again—to lose sight of the consequences of her actions.
But all of those thoughts vanished the moment Hope stepped into the room.
Their eyes met.
Then Hope ran into her arms and broke down in tears.
She would scold her another time.
Hope POV
She hadn’t realized just how much she had missed her wife until she was back in her arms.
All her sorrow.
All her anger at her own helplessness.
It all melted away beneath her wife’s calm voice as Jinx gently comforted her.
“I’m here.
Everything’s okay.
I’m not leaving you again.”
Her words were like a balm for Hope’s wounded heart.
Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her neck.
She pulled back and touched the spot.
Blood trickled down her skin.
She looked up to find Jinx staring at her in horror.
“I’m so sorry.
I really am.
But you smell so good…
and you’re so delicious,” Jinx admitted.
Hope fixed her with a stern look.
Then she burst out laughing.
“It’s okay, my love.
You’re just a newborn.
You’re going to need some practice.”
She smiled teasingly.
“But if you want to drink from me under…
other circumstances, I wouldn’t mind.”
A pointed cough interrupted the moment.
Hope slowly turned to see her father raising an eyebrow.
“I think teaching her to control her abilities should be our priority, my littlest wolf.”
“You wouldn’t want her wiping out an entire village, would you?”
“Oh…
that’s embarrassing,” Hope muttered as her wife watched her with an amused smile.
A few moments later, they found themselves in the forest surrounding the manor, making it feel completely isolated from the rest of the world.
It had taken an enormous amount of magic to build it so quickly—and just as much compulsion to make the workers forget where it was.
“What are we doing here?” Jinx asked.
“The first lesson.”
“And what’s that?”
“Run,” Hope said with a mischievous smile, her fangs on display.
Jinx grinned back.
“Try to catch me.”
With that, she vanished between the trees.
A moment later, the howl of a wolf echoed through the forest.
For several hours, the forest echoed with a woman’s laughter.
Her figure darted between the trees, weaving through the woods and leaping from branch to branch.
Whenever she climbed into a tree, the wolf chasing her would pout dramatically, trying to coax her back down.
Laughing all the while, Jinx would eventually give in, and the chase would begin anew.
Hope finally caught her in front of a waterfall, tackling her to the ground.
Hope’s wolf wore the most smug expression imaginable, as if to say,
I know.
Behold my magnificence and kneel before me.
The expression was so comically proud that Jinx burst into laughter.
As she laughed, Hope shifted back into her human form, appearing naked on top of her.
“I thought you could conjure clothes whenever you transformed,” Jinx said, though her attention was completely absorbed by her wife’s body.
“I didn’t feel like wearing any.”
Hope smiled seductively.
“And it doesn’t seem to bother you.”
“Don’t we have any other lessons today?” Jinx asked, making no real effort to escape her wife’s embrace.
“Lesson number two,” Hope murmured.
“A vampire’s libido is much stronger than a human’s.”
“Much stronger.”
“Well,” Jinx replied before kissing her,
“if it’s a lesson…
then keep teaching me.”
Over the next few moments, Jinx lifted her effortlessly and pinned her against a tree.
“I like having a vampire’s strength.
It lets me do things like this,” Jinx said, holding her firmly in place.
Hope could have broken free.
She simply didn’t want to.
She lost herself in the kisses and gentle caresses that trailed down her body until Jinx reached her destination.
“I wonder if you taste even better now that I’m a vampire.”
“I guess we’re about to find out.”
Over the next several hours, she got her answer—and much more besides.
The trees surrounding the waterfall were left in ruins by the force of their passion.
It wasn’t until the sun stood high in the sky that they finally found themselves hungry for something other than each other’s skin.
A hint of disappointment crossed Hope’s face as she watched her wife get dressed.
Jinx leaned over and kissed her cheek.
“Later,” she whispered, sending a pleasant shiver of anticipation through Hope.
When they arrived in the manor’s dining room, Klaus was already waiting for them.
“Did you find lunch?” Hope asked.
“Of course,” he replied with a cruel smile.
“Come here, Katerina.”
A woman in her twenties stepped forward.
Hope rolled her eyes at the name.
“Really?
You couldn’t find a woman with a different name from the doppelgänger you spent centuries chasing?
Move on, Dad,” Hope said with an exasperated sigh.
As if to prove her point, Klaus simply shrugged.
“Lesson number three: learning how to feed without killing your prey.”
“You can survive on animal blood,” Hope explained, “but it won’t satisfy you for long.
It also weakens a vampire’s abilities and makes it harder to keep control.”
Only then did she notice the look that passed between her father and her wife.
“What did I miss?” she asked.
“I still have my magic,” Jinx said before lifting a chair into the air.
Levitation had been one of the first spells Hope had taught her.
“How?”
Hope closed her eyes and focused on her wife.
How had she missed that?
Her wife’s magic was twice as powerful as before.
But Jinx wasn’t a member of the Gemini Coven.
That should have been impossible.
“A side effect of the bond?”
“Most likely,” Klaus replied.
“One thing at a time,” Hope said at last.
“Right now, it’s time for lunch.”
At those words, Katerina shivered in terror.
“Please…
let me go,” she begged.
“You’ll leave once my wife has finished eating,” Hope replied.
“She’s a newborn, so be patient with her.”
She turned to Jinx.
“Go ahead.”
Jinx rushed toward the woman and sank her fangs into her neck.
After a few minutes, Jinx pulled away with little effort.
Hope and Klaus looked at her curiously.
“What?” Jinx exclaimed.
“She doesn’t taste nearly as good as my wife!
It’s annoying.”
Hope blushed at those words.
“My love, you need other sources of food.
You can’t survive on my blood alone.”
Jinx sighed before taking another reluctant sip.
“I’m done,” she said a few moments later.
“It’s not enough.
You need more,” Hope said.
“No.
I’m done.”
At least Hope knew there was no sire bond between them.
“And I need a shower…
and to brush my teeth.”
The last part came out with almost palpable disgust.
A second later, she disappeared.
Hope and Klaus stared after her in stunned silence.
“Well,” Klaus said at last, “at least you don’t have to worry about her becoming a Ripper.”
Hope blushed even more.
She quickly retreated toward their bedroom, but not before murmuring to her father,
“Take her home.”
“And don’t kill her just because she happens to have that woman’s name,” Hope added pointedly.
When Jinx stepped out of the shower, she found Hope lying on their bed, a book in her hands.
Once she had finished getting dressed, Jinx sat down beside her wife.
“Hope…
we need to talk.”
Hope went pale.
That couldn’t possibly be a good sign.
Is she going to bring up what happened last night?
Am I going to have to sleep in another bedroom tonight?
Oh no, Hope thought in horror.
Apologize.
Apologize!
“I’m sorry, sweetheart!
I completely lost it last night!” she blurted out.
Jinx raised an eyebrow.
“That wasn’t what you were going to talk about?”
“No,” Jinx replied.
“And we’ll come back to that conversation later.”
The firmness in her voice sent a shiver down Hope’s spine.
Fuck.
Fuck.
“Hope…
I saw Landon.”